Cosmetic applicators are well known and are used to apply various cosmetic products. Mascara is typically applied to keratinous fibers using a cosmetic applicator brush such that the mascara product is brushed over and adheres to the keratinous fibers of a user's eyelashes. A well known mascara applicator brush is the standard twisted wire applicator brush which is made up of a twisted central wire having bristles protruding therefrom. Traditionally, the bristles used in such twisted wire applicator brushes are thin fiber bristles that are entrapped by the wire when twisted.
An alternative applicator brush is manufactured by injection of a plastic material in such a way as to form a central core along the axis of the brush and protrusions arranged around the core in an array, typically as rows of protrusions in the axial direction. The protrusions of these plastic injected brushes may not be able to achieve the same fine dimensions of the fiber bristles of a twisted wire brush, but have the advantage of being able to arrange the protrusions in arrays not achievable with twisted wire brushes.
The twisted wire and injected plastic applicator brushes both have pros and cons when it comes to the make-up effect achieved and to the ease of application of the mascara as perceived by the consumer. In order to combine the advantages of both applicator types some attempts have been made over recent years to produce a hybrid applicator, referred to below as the injected plastic strip applicator brush.
In the injected plastic strip applicator brush, injected plastic strips, having plastic protrusions arranged in a longitudinal comb-like arrangement thereon, are assembled to the twisted wire applicator brush after its manufacture. The plastic protrusions are thicker than the traditional fiber bristles and they facilitate application where a volumising effect, for example, is required. Cosmetic applicators of this type can therefore provide a dual application effect, combining the make-up application effect created by the traditional fibers bristles together with the effect created by the plastic protrusions and as such cosmetic applicators of this type are becoming more and more popular with consumers. Unfortunately, manufacturing cosmetic applicators of this type involves a laborious non-automated assembly process which involves first manufacturing the standard twisted wire applicator brush, trimming the bristles of the applicator brush, manufacturing the plastic strips and then fitting the plastic strips to the standard twisted wire applicator brush. As such manufacturing cosmetic applicators of this type tends to be expensive and time consuming.
Furthermore, due to the constraints associated with the assembly process, there are limitations as to the possible bristle and protrusion configuration on the cosmetic applicator. The twisted wire applicator defines the configuration of the fiber bristles and the structure of the plastic strips defines the configuration of the protrusions. As such, it is not possible to have diverse and different configurations in respect of fiber bristles and plastic protrusions, or to have interspersion of fiber bristles and plastic protrusions.